Next week I am talking to the head of catering.
I have been told by the chain of command to provide him my dietary
requirements and the chefs will provide me with the food.
That is the theory.
I just know it is not going to work out so simply.
My question is, how do I get them to cook me lovely vegan food all the
time?
The cooking is happening in the Gulf. The chefs are Indian. The
catering company are a LONG way from the sort of organization that
does the food at Google's campus, for example.
One, maybe two of the cooks, I get along with, if I talk with them.
One I dislike due to his arrogance. They are all pretty arrogant,
actually, but no problem. (And hey, they are chefs! :)
I try to humbly, sensitively, cross-culturally awarely get my little
message across to them and they do not give a hoot. "You can eat
this." "But that pizza has cheese on it. Can you remember that I
mentioned no cheese?" "Then take the cheese off."
Here are some of the issues:
I am the only vegan. They cater for a lot of people.
They think they understand vegetarian / vegan. They don't. But they
think they do.
They feel threatened when there is a need to verify the ingredients of
dishes that have been prepared.
I get conflicting messages regarding the ingredients (no meat stock/
meat stock)
They lie / say whatever they guess will molify me
They do not care at all about vegan thinking/cooking and if they
consider it at all, think that it is a problem for themselves, and
even unhealthy for me
THings like vegan margarine / egg replacement powder /other stuff that
might be commonly available in the West are not around here.
I guess there is a limited budget, and what cash there is available
for getting fresh food must be raided to supplement the salaries of
some/one of the staff.
It is difficult to have faith that they would be bothered to be
strictly vegan.
Things that might help:
The chefs would really appreciate a bit of extra money I could send
their way as a tip or something
They have good catering facilities
What non vegan food they supply is pretty good, some say
The head of catering is a good bloke
What approach do you think I should take with the head of catering?
What should I say to him? Just give a list of recipes?
I think that maybe getting just one of the chefs to be my "specialist"
and giving him a nice monthly tip or something, and printing out a few
recipes...
But he would have to learn what vegan cooking means, and he is SO
arrogant - it is impossible to tell them anything...
Please help! :)
Thank you
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